HTC's next flagship smartphone is coming March 1 in Barcelona

HTC has sent out invites for a major launch on March 1 in Barcelona, just as Mobile World Congress gets underway. Naturally, this is where we're expecting to see the company's next big Android smartphone — the phone that may go by the name HTC One M9.

After a tempestuous 2014, HTC will be looking to kick off its 2015 product cycle with the successor to one of our favorite devices of the past year, the HTC One M8. Rumors suggest it'll run Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 810 chip, rock a 5-inch 1080p display, and perhaps ditch the "Ultrapixel" camera of old in favor of a traditional high-megapixel sensor.

The invite's tag line, "utopia in progress," doesn't give much away, but you can bet we'll be live from Barcelona in six weeks to bring you full coverage of one of the most important Android launches of the year.

hehe I first noticed the big IR with utopIa and progRess... but then I could be reading to much into this... will put the image out to the conspiracy theorists and see which iluminati wing this belongs to >:¬}

I don't even want to hear the word "ultrapixel".
I really don't know if it improved much with the M8, but I couldn't stand the M7 camera. Most of the pictures reminded me of the pictures from my old flip phones unless it was nice and bright outside. It really turned me away from anything ultrapixel, especially after the way HTC hyped it up so much. It was a shame because that phone had a lot going for it.

It's easy better on the M8. It's not an iPhone6 so don't expect that kind of performance. But it takes decent pictures in everydsy settings and excellent pictures in low light without the flash. There is no lag and no blurry photos because you moved the phone or started to turn it around and look at your photo before realizing the picture hasn't been taken yet. I wish they would have kept the OIS, but maybe they will throw it back in this year.

Hope they ditch the ultrapixel camera, at least for the back anyway. Hope they have any of the issues the 810 was having worked out before launch. Don't want to have another thunderbolt like device due to the SoC having issues.

Personally hope they hurry up dropped my M8 and drop no longer responsive (not getting dot case and assume it's safe.. Hehe or any more shirts without breast pocket).. There is no phone out there that I would want even now to replace my M8 except hopefully the new one.

Will it be called the "HTC Galaxy S"? Because that's what the picture makes me think of. Maybe that's not fair - but there are billions of other ways to have a creative background image and they went with a blanket picture of space.

At least they aren't pulling an Xiaomi and ripping off their competitors or a OnePlus and overpromising for what will obviously under deliver.

To be honest, I like the power button being located on the top since the IR is already integrated to the button itself and placing it into the side will likely prompt HTC to place the volume rocker on the opposite side, which is a big no no for me. Having the power button on the same side as the volume rocker is also a horrible idea imo.

Yess someone gets it, I hate samsung pwr button on the side I always shut off the screen trying to change volume. Valid point about ir as well its in the button and the button is in the perfect spot already!

Just because tech companies some out with something new like 3D TV's, for example, doesn't make it practical or progressive. I would rather they improve the daylight viewing of smartphones, energy consumption/battery life, contrast/blackness and viewing angles before they waste time on pixels that don't improve my user experience more than superficially.

I wouldn't of minded if Samsung stuck to a 1080p display on the note 4 if it meant more battery life. Don't get me wrong the dismay is amazing it's just I'm a power user and my phone needs to be charged sooner then I would have liked.

My M8 is almost perfect. The camera is OK, but needs to be better. All you clowns talking about 4gigs of ram, and 64 gigs of internal memory are just stupid. That's what sd cards are for. And 3 gigs is more than enough. Honestly 2 gigs is fine. I just hope they improve the camera to the rumored specs of 20.7, a bigger battery, keep 1080p, Bose speakers, and a screen size of 5.2, because with the onscreen buttons it's really only 4.7 with the 5" screen. Oh, and I would rather have the headphone jack on top and power jack on the side. The power button on top is cool with the knock/swipe features.

Why in 2015 should a flagship phone have 16GB and I should be happy about that and be resigned to purchase more storage. These aren't flip phones these are hand held multimedia computers.....capable of making phone calls on the side. I have a 32GB phone right now but that phone is two years old. I won't even consider a phone without at least 64GB.

If they fix the camera issue, I'm trading in my Galaxy S5 for sure. I SOOO miss the front-firing speakers of my original One. I also do not like the Samsung home button - too "clicky". And it better have enough storage. 16 or 32 GB is just too little. 64 GB is perfect.

This thing will absolutely fly with the 810 and 1080p. My be the best performing phone graphically ever.

However please make the phone smaller. You can keep the 5" screen, but make the thing smaller. The M8 is huge compared to any other 5" skin phone. Also put the freaking power button on the side where it belongs... This was the main reason I never bought an M8. I didnt want to contort my hand and risk dropping the phone every time i turned the screen off.

But when you do use it, you have to contort your hand to an abnormal position and slide the phone down in your hand to reach it. I completely agree with you when phones were 4", but not anymore. The m8 was massive for its screen size, and it was practically impossible to reach that horribly placed button. You get used to it on the side very quickly and then wonder why it was ever anywhere else. There is a reason everyone else puts it there.

We all know that the long speaker grills are just for show. If HTC just places the grills where the speakers actually are, it would leave room for branding. I would like to see an all glass front with the speaker holes drilled through the glass. All metal back, All glass front. I think they can make the dimensions of the phone closer to the M7 that way but with a 5 inch screen.

The speaker grills are not for show but the the speakers do only take up about half of them. My thought was that they should set the speakers perpendicular to the screen and under the top and bottom of the screen and then have a curved port that would direct the sound toward the user. That way they could use a thin slit for the sound and reduce the vertical space the speakers take up thereby reducing the overall height of the device but keeping the stereo speakers.

I'm perfectly happy with the size of the screen on my S4. Not sure how I would feel about the 5.5in on the G3, but I might be willing to go just a tad larger if the bezel was shrunk down considerably. But there has to be a limit to these ever increasing screen sizes!

Over the years I've had both Samsung and HTC phones, and IMO, HTC is a far better phone. Granted, I was disappointed with the the ultrapixel camera in the M8, but everything else is rock solid. The screen display is excellent (and it's very usable outdoors) the battery lasts me all day long, the stereo speakers are an improvement when streaming youtube or sharing other videos with friends, and it just feels solid in the hand.

I think I'll have (ask) my wife take my M8, and I'll upgrade to the M9, or whatever they call it when it comes out :-)

I never bought the M8, because I knew it was not a perfect phone although it looked amazing in gunmetal grey, I wished it had a bit more stigma, as I loved my M7 it looked and felt like a solid phone. But now I know htc are going to bring out the best phone ever made to date the all new htc one m9

I hope they keep the Duo camera setup. Quite honestly, I hope they keep the ultrapixel is well. I just really need them to refine that so that when I'm taking pictures outside or in HDR mode it doesn't blow them out. The pictures I get at night and indoors in low light are better than anything else out there. Plus the functionality of all the individual camera settings and the ability to save your own setup is huge.

I know that you don't like the m8 camera but it really isn't all that bad, I have a note 4 now and my wife moved from the m8 to a note 4 as well and the first thing she said to me after using the camera on the note 4 was " the pictures indoor are not as good as my other phone" lol I guess it's about perception she loved the camera on the m8 but loves the big display of the note 4. I personally think the note 4's camera outdoors or in brightly lit rooms is the best on the market. I think HTC has the right idea about using the 4mp/up on the front and using a larger traditional camera on the back most people would appreciate having more light let in on their selfie pictures.

So it will be the HTC One M9 - front firing speakers, bigger screen. A leeeeeeeetle more plastic than the M8 with just enough battery to make it to bedtime. Utopia!

My utopia - decent speakerphone. Forget front firing speakers - they don't sound any better than my 1970s transistor radio and make the phone stupidly long. Screen somewhat smaller than 5" and LCD. Lots of storage. Efficient use of a largish (3500mAhr or so) battery. Small enough to use one handed and not feel like a brick in my pocket. Plastic - like a Lumia, not a Samsung. Excellent radios and sound from earpiece. Done. Come on, HTC. You can do this.

You must have really small hands and a poor perception of quality. As far as the battery, my m8 comes off the charger around 6am everyday and with moderate use throughout, I'm still at ~35-40% by 9pm. I have absolutely no complaints about this phone and it's the first one in quite a long time I'm not interested in getting rid of any time soon.

@static (apt name there!!) Ah, thanks for pointing out that my dissatisfaction with the M8 are my fault. I would never have realized that without your rather boorish criticism! Of course your results are the only valid ones, you being the purveyor of the one truth and all. The fact that my experience is different I guess makes it wrong.

@douglas - yeah I was kind of wanting that Z3 Compact. Unfortunately. Verizon (more or less the only reliable carrier by me) doesn't carry it. Although I am considering the Z3v - seems like a nice phone. Right now I'm liking the Moto X, but for the battery life.

My Oneplus is better to look at because of its 5.5 display, and my Oneplus is ridiculously better re. battery life than my M8. Nevertheless, my M8 is undeniably better at being a phone than my Oneplus. In fact, I'll gladly fling my Oneplus against a wall if the rumored HTC Hima Ace ever becomes an obtainable reality.

I think the yellow tint issue was fixed after the first production batch or two. None of the OPO units I've used have had any issue with that. The screen is just average in general, though. It's not bad, certainly, but definitely nowhere near as crisp as the M8's.

I returned my Droid Turbo because of this. Compared to the M7, the Turbo has dismal sound quality, speaker and headphone output both suck. It is not just the poor quality of the speaker, the quality of the sound is horrible.

The speaker on the Turbo is is loud, in fact it may be as loud as the One. But the sound quality is horrible. Dynamic range is very narrow, squeezed towards the middle, everything sounds like it is coming through a horn. Okay I may be exaggerating a bit, but not by much!

The problem is, and this is the primary reason I took the Turbo back, is the sound that is coming out of the headphone jack is just as bad as the speaker. Using the same headphones and the same equalizer settings on both phones ( flat as possible, no beats) the One sounded way better than the Turbo.

It is awesome that all the phones have become so good that he dynamic range of the speaker is the deciding factor! If i recall correctly the M8 has a really good DAC. Didn't Nokia try to sue them for using the same DAC as them?

There talking about a 3-4 month delay on the 810 from what I've read. my only guess is some phones that were supposed to get the 810 will fall back to the 805. Then again, I'll bet qualcomm resolves the issues sooner than expected

You guys seriously believe this overheating nonsense? Think about it, these allegations first surfaced back in the beginning of December. Now a month and a half later, HTC is mailing out invitations for their flagship phone unveiling. If the chip were having issues, do you think they would push on and still have the event the same date? No, they would have pushed the date of the announce back.

Definitely looking forward to see what they release. My HTC One M7 is still going strong, but I plan on upgrading this year. If they keep a similar form factor and ditch the Ultrapixels for a high MP with OIS, it will be my next upgrade as I have always been a fan of HTC with my One and Incredible 2. If not, I will probably go over to Samsung for the new Galaxy S6 or pick up a Note 4.

I actually like Vanilla Android, but you're right Sense is an awesome light weight skin. I've always liked Sense and it has only gotten better over the years. Plus I'm constantly reading in the forums how fast the M8 is and that it's possibly the fastest Android phone out there. Wow I love the diversity Android offers lol

I've owned 2 different Samsung phones (the Galaxy S3 and S4). After dealing with years of janky software, annoying features that I don't want, and updates that usually need another update to fix, I am done with Samsung.

Those phones also really stated falling apart after about 8 months. The finish on the back cover of the S3 stated coming off after only a couple weeks.